Nattu included in TN squad for Vijay Hazare Trophy
CHENNAI: The Men’s Senior State Selection Committee, on Wednesday, named India pacer Thangarasu Natarajan in the 20-man Tamil Nadu squad for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Left-arm fast bowler Natarajan, who made his national team debut during the recently concluded Australia tour, wasn’t a part of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which Tamil Nadu won by defeating Baroda in the final in Ahmedabad last Sunday. While the 29-year-old missed the group stage of SMAT 2021 due to his involvement with the India team, he was asked to take rest by the BCCI when the tournament knockouts were on.
State Selection Committee chairman S Vasudevan confirmed to DT Next that Natarajan would be available for Tamil Nadu only if given the go-ahead by the BCCI. “We have included him in the squad. If the BCCI gives permission, Natarajan will play for us. As he may feature in the ODI and T20 home series against England, the BCCI will update us about his availability,” said Vasudevan, a former Tamil Nadu captain.
The experienced Dinesh Karthik, who led Tamil Nadu to the T20 title, will continue to captain the state side, but will be assisted by all-rounder Baba Aparajith this time around. Aparajith has replaced Vijay Shankar, who is yet to recover from an injury that he suffered in the very first match of SMAT 2021 in Kolkata.
“Vijay Shankar is still unfit and will have to go through a rehabilitation process,” revealed Vasudevan. As many as 17 members of the victorious SMAT squad have retained their places in the Tamil Nadu team for the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
They will be joined by the trio of Natarajan, opener Kaushik Gandhi and pacer K Vignesh. “I feel that we have got a winning combination again. We hope to bring one more trophy home and add one to our kitty,” said Vasudevan.
SQUAD: Dinesh Karthik (c), Baba Aparajith (vc), Baba Indrajith, KB Arun Karthik, C Hari Nishaanth, Shahrukh Khan, Narayan Jagadeesan, L Suryapprakash, Kaushik Gandhi, J Kousik, Murugan Ashwin, R Sai Kishore, Manimaran Siddharth, R Sonu Yadav, K Vignesh, Thangarasu Natarajan, Aswin Crist, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, G Periyasamy and M Mohammed